Thursday, February 24, 2011

Continuing my theme of who I will be voting for in the London Assembly elections (after Natalie Bennett [1]) I’d like to put in a word for Sue Luxton, or General Luxton as she is commonly called by me, if no one else.

Sue is another hard working and talented Green whose deep commitment to her area, Ladywell in Lewisham, is absolutely unquestionable. Sue came to the Greens from a place relatively alien to me – the animal rights movement – and her consistent veganism I can only admire from afar as I tuck into a chicken and bacon sandwich. Smiling.

Sue was elected as one of the Green Party’s batch of six councillors in Lewisham in 2006 and was a key organising force on that group, helping to ensure that the council passed policy on a Living Wage for all staff and contractors as well as being widely recognised as an excellent local councillor with a deep understanding of local issues.

She was the very definition of a community campaigner in that time, working with all kinds of residents to help make Lewisham a better place.

However, what gives her the edge in this selection process is her extremely strong experience of organising election campaigns. The London Assembly list needs someone like her, placed well, to give it real beef when it comes to the logistics of the campaign.

As the constituency organiser in Lewisham she helped organise a formidable and well-oiled election machine. While the electoral tide may have been against us this just proved her mettle all the more as she assembled a small army of volunteers who did not have a single wasted moment on the days they volunteered to help across our target wards.

The team of leading candidates needs those skills and that commitment, not because there are no other candidates who understand election logistics but because no other candidate understands them to the degree that she does, particularly when fighting a difficult election.

That General’s Star was earned with blood, sweat and tears born of an obsession with canvassing databases and different coloured highlighter pens.

We currently have the opportunity in the Green Party to assemble a strong team of candidates for London whose skills and politics make the perfect fit. It’s my contention that we’d be missing a trick if we did not place Sue Luxton among our leading candidates in this election.

Wow, thanks Jim, you're too kind, though as I sit here chomping on a milk chocolate Viscount biscuit, I feel I'd better 'fess up to my not really vegan at all status, merely vegetarian, before Charlotte does that for me. And it was Ute wot led on the Living Wage stuff, though all of us voted in favour of it, obviously.

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